Reading Response #4

One of the most enjoyable parts of The Idiot is that it contains so much of Dostoevsky’s philosophy. His writing is filled with his reflections on life and it becomes very obvious why Nietzsche respected him so immensely. Even his smallest thoughts that embellish the narrative are extraordinarily interesting and offer many deep insights for readers to glean if they take time to reflect.

One of the more interesting thoughts that is presented in the book is expressed by the only relative of The Prince, Madame Yepanchin. She says to The Prince, “The heart is the main thing, the rest is nonsense.” Which is an interesting (despite somewhat cliché) thought. However, she explains what she means:

“A fool with a heart and no brains is as unhappy a fool as a fool with brains, but no heart. An old truth. I am a fool with a heart but no brains, and you are a fool with brains but no heart; and we’re both unhappy, and we both suffer.”

At face value, this may seem somewhat shallow, but if you read deeper into the subtext, it's a very interesting existential thought. No matter what you have, you wish for what you don’t have (a brain, or a heart). People can never be happy with what they have, whether or not it is something that can be changed: “We are both unhappy, and we both suffer.”
Perhaps Dostoevsky’s writing can offer some solace in the knowledge that the feeling is universal, and that even a man who may seem perfect (such as The Prince), is, in himself, still unhappy. Maybe if you understand that it is human nature to want what you can’t or don’t have, then you can try to overcome your shortfalls and realize how privileged you may be. Even if that privilege is something as basic as your heart or your brain.

Reading Response #3

A little while into The Idiot, Dostoevsky tells what feels a bit like a story inside of a story. It offers some background to the character of The Prince, but I believe it was more of a vehicle for Dostoevsky to share some of his own personal philosophy and thoughts. He tells a story of The Prince’s time spent teaching in a small Swiss village.

The Prince tells about how the other teacher he worked with envied how well he got along with the children, while most of the town disliked him because they believed he was “corrupting” the children. The Prince explains he “didn’t hide anything from them.” “What were they so afraid of?” he asked. The Prince goes on to comment on how poorly adults understand children, because they say that it is proper to hide things from them on the pretext that they aren’t ready to learn about it or that they wont understand the concept. “What a sad and unfortunate idea!” The Prince muses. Dostoevsky boils down his manifesto for this little story into one line The Prince spouts: “Grown-ups don’t know that a child can give extremely important advice even in the most difficult matters. Oh God! when this pretty little bird looks at you trustingly and happily, its a shame to deceive it!”

This offers a lot of insight into Dostoevsky’s philosophy on the matter of children, he made it very obvious that one shouldn’t try to conceal parts of life from a children because you believe it will better them somehow. I agree with the sentiment and have for a very long time, so it was interesting to see an author articulate it into such a concise anecdotal form. It also offers a nice view of The Prince’s child-like innocence, when he says that he prefers the company of children to adults, because he doesn’t know how to act around adults. If many other characters were to say this, it may seem peculiar, but given how perfectly kind and gentle The Prince is, it makes perfect sense, and sums him up quite nicely.

Reading Response #2

I’ve gotten further along in The Idiot and one of the more interesting things covered in the book is the concept of the death penalty. It was an important, and dangerous, topic to cover in the time that the novel was written. In Russia, capital punishment was abolished in 1753-54 under the empress Elizaveta Petrovna, but reintroduced by Catherine II in the 1860s because of anarchist and terrorist movement and was then resorted to quite frequently. Dostoevsky had to use some tricky wording in certain conversations the Prince has throughout the book in order to bypass censors from editing the book.

The death penalty was a very important topic to cover for Dostoevsky as he himself had actually been subject to a “mock execution” (an incident which is talked about by the Prince in the novel) because he was a member of a group of progressive-minded “commoner-intellectuals” called the Petrashevsky Circle. Dostoevsky, who is referred to by the Prince telling the story as “a certain man”, was taken with many other members of the circle to be put to death, but at the last minute before their execution was let free. Dostoevsky argues (via the Prince) that, although death by the guillotine is quick and painless, the waiting and panic that preempts the ultimate execution are worse than any prison sentence a man could serve.

The Idiot is widely considered an existential piece of literature, and the subject matter of execution is covered in many other classic, existential novels. Most notable are L’etranger by Albert Camus, which follows a man being sentenced to death by the guillotine up until his last minutes of life, as well as a personal favourite to Dostoevsky: The Last Day of a Man Condemned to Death by Victor Hugo.

It is very interesting to see the death penalty be talked about by a man who not only had friends who were taken by it (21 of his contemporaries in the Petrashevsky Circle were put to death), but who had experienced the panic and fear of being in the guillotine and lived to tell the tale.

Reading Response #1

Fyodor Dostoevsky is considered by academics and readers around the world to be one of the greatest authors, with many of his books appearing on a multitude of “best-of” lists. Albert Einstein even said "Dostoevsky gives me more than any scientist, more than Gauss." To further even this praise, Friedrich Neitzsche called Dostoevsky “the only psychologist from whom [he] had anything to learn”. With praise like this from such amazing minds and important figures, I went into The Idiot expecting quite a lot, and it did not disappoint. It is truly a classic novel.

After portraying a guilty man in Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky embarked on The Idiot as a medium to write about a truly delightful and innocent character: Prince Myshkin. Early in the novel his character is quite clear. He is a very nice man who means no trouble, although he is afflicted with epilepsy (in the time of the novel’s writing and within the book, called “idiocy”), which has led the people around him to be standoffish and think quite little of him. However, time after time he proves to the people he encounters that he is smart, conversational, and very nice.

Of course, a perfect character wouldn’t be very compelling, so it is interesting to see the way he is written even when he is angry or annoyed. In one passage, The Prince is being berated by the character Ganya, who calls him an “idiot” on the street, and the Prince replies with a wonderful retort:

“I must point out to you Gavrilla Ardalionovich, that formerly I was indeed unwell, so that in fact I was almost an idiot; but I have been well for a long time now, and therefore I find it somewhat unpleasant when I’m called an idiot to my face. Though you might be excused, considering your misfortunes, in your vexation you have even abused me a couple of times. I dislike that very much, especially the way you do it, suddenly, from the start. And since we’re now standing at an intersection, it might be better if we parted: you go home to the right and I’ll go left. I have twenty-five roubles, and I’m sure I’ll find furnished rooms.”

It is a beautiful and succinct representation of The Prince’s quiet, collected power in even very harsh situations, as well as his intelligence and vocabulary. It's this calm power and depth of character, that makes The Prince such a likable and interesting character. I look forward to reading more of him.